Genre: Real Time Strategy (RTS), Simulator, Strategy, Indie
Against the Storm
Hotfix 0.63.7 (Reputation Bonus)
Greetings, Viceroys!
We needed to deploy one more hotfix which deals with a couple of Reputation Bonus issues (missing blueprints, negative blueprint choices in the new tutorial scenarios, incorrect numbers on the reputation icon on the HUD) that occurred in the new tutorial missions.
Unfortunately, players who were affected by the issue will need to Skip Tutorial (in the in-game menu) for the fix to work and then play it again. The skipped tutorial games don't count as losses.
We're sorry for the trouble! If you need any additional help, you can reach out to us via support@eremitegames.freshdesk.com
Have a fantastic day and may the storm be gentle on you, Eremite Games
Hotfix 0.63.6 (World Map HUD, Reputation Rewards)
Greetings, Viceroys!
We're back with a small patch to fix the issues that you reported after the Tutorials and Tips Update. Thank you for your swift reports and feedback!
Changelog:
Fixed a bug with Harvesting speed being clamped to 150% instead of 1000%.
Fixed a bug with some non-interactive Reputation Bonus choices.
Fixed a bug with the Badge of Courage perk missing an icon.
Fixed a bug where skipping tutorial scenarios would remove the World Map HUD.
Fixed a bug with planting and harvesting times not being updated in the farm UI.
Fixed a bug where restarting tutorial missions would reroll caravan choices.
Fixed an issue where the reward popup after attacking a trader wouldn't have enough space for more than 6 rewards.
Fixed an issue with the Citadel being called "N/A" in some instances of the UI.
Fixed an issue where the Forest Mystery HUD would have too little space for 5 active effects.
Tweaked the text spacing in the tutorial panel in the World Map view.
Fixed a bug with the Beacon Tower and Forester's Hut sticking out of the ground when first placed.
Adjusted the experience rewards for all tutorial scenarios.
We wish you a great time with the update and a relaxing weekend.
Whether you're a newcomer, learning the ropes of Viceroy's duties, or a returning player seeking to refresh your memory, rest assured, we have you covered! The update introduces two new tutorials focused on trading, Hostility, and Rainpunk. But as always, that's not all!
What's new:
2 new tutorial missions
Replayable tutorial scenarios
48 new icons
Building counters
And more!
You can find the full changelog and our update notes below.
DEVELOPER NOTES
As we teased in the last update notes, we wanted to take some time before the 1.0 release to focus more on new players and their experience when first learning the game. Over the course of the last few updates, we’ve introduced a number of changes to this end (UI improvements, Aunt Lori dialog), but there was always one more thing that needed to be done - new tutorials that focus on some of the more complex mechanics of the game, such as trading, Hostility, and Rainpunk.
So that's what we did in this update! We added a new panel with all the tutorial missions in the world map view, and we added two new optional scenarios called "Trade & Hostility" and "Rainpunk & Blightrot". Both are very similar to the original two tutorial missions that every player gets to play at the beginning of the game. They introduce a topic in a short and concise way with explanatory text and camera movements, and then let the player explore the game freely in a custom scenario centered around a given theme (for example, in “Trade & Hostility”, most orders and blueprints are centered around trade, encouraging the player to try out that particular playstyle).
Now let's talk about balance. Some time ago, we stated that there would be no major, game-changing overhauls before the 1.0 release - and we still stand by that! But we do see some places in the game that need a little tidying up. So in this update, we took a look at the resource and reward distribution in some Dangerous and Forbidden Glades, and rebalanced some negative Forest Mysteries. In the next update, we will take a quick look at some other aspects of the game and try to clean them up a little as well.
So when it came to the balance of glades, we noticed that some Forbidden Glades had too few resources, and some Dangerous ones had too many. Some even outperformed their Forbidden counterparts. That’s why we decided to slightly reduce the maximum amount of goods a Dangerous Glade could contain and increase the minimum value of Forbidden Glades. This change might sound big, but due to the random nature of the game, there were only a few variations of Dangerous Glades that were way too generous (about 18%).
We also tweaked a few things in the loot tables for various Glade events. It turned out that some Dangerous Events had resource rewards comparable to their Forbidden counterparts, and some Forbidden Events would give far too few perks and goods for completion. So we decided to balance things out a bit by reducing the number of goods in many Dangerous Events and buffing loot tables for a lot of Forbidden Events.
Finally, in terms of balance, we also looked at some Forest Mysteries, as many players pointed out that some effects were too easy, while others seemed too punishing. There aren't many changes here, mostly increases and decreases to the Hostility requirements, but there is one significant overhaul. The Stagnant effect has been changed so that it no longer increases break time, but instead reduces the time between breaks.
Let's move on to the UX changes. In this update, we added effect names ("Comfortable", "Proficient") to specialization tooltips, replaced 48 existing icons with new custom assets (for Sealed Forest effects, prestige modifiers, house upgrades, etc.), improved the wording in many places (especially for time-sensitive world event objectives), added planting and harvesting times to farm recipes, and added building counters to building cards in the construction menu.
Thank you for providing us with feedback and suggestions for the new update. If you’d like to share your ideas for upcoming updates, here are some useful links:
P.S. One of the best things you can do to help indie games is to leave a Steam review. If you’ve had a chance to play Against the Storm, we’d love to hear any feedback, positive or negative. Thanks!
CHANGELOG
Number of changes: 93 Inspired by community: 92%
Changes marked with ⚡ were inspired by the community.
New content and features
Introduced a new “optional tutorial” system and added two new tutorial scenarios to the game.
Hostility & Trade - unlocked right after the World Map Tutorial. It's a custom scenario that explains Hostility and Forest Mysteries in more detail and focuses on building a trading-oriented settlement to familiarize players with the trading mechanics.
Rainpunk & Blightrot - unlocked after gaining access to the Rainpunk mechanic. This scenario explains how to use Rain Engines and Rainwater, teaches the player about Blightrot, and focuses on building a settlement based on heavy industry and metal production.
Optional tutorial scenarios can be accessed in a new pop-up window in the World Map view. The window is located on the left side of the screen and can be expanded or collapsed as desired.
When entering the world map for the first time, the tutorial pop-up will also list some additional "read more" topics. Selecting these will take the player directly to the in-game encyclopedia.
With this change, the "Replay Tutorial" button has been removed from the ESC menu. To replay a tutorial, simply select a scenario from the tutorial pop-up (the first two tutorial missions are also available there).
Balance
⚡ Slightly changed the balance of resources in Dangerous and Forbidden Glades.
There were a few possible variations of Dangerous Glades that had too many resources, and a few Forbidden Glades that had way too few. We tried to balance that out a bit by lowering the maximum possible resource count in Dangerous Glades and raising the minimum in Forbidden Glades.
This is not a huge change, but it should make Forbidden Glades a little more reliable in terms of resource gathering.
⚡ Balanced the rewards given for completing Forbidden and Dangerous Glade Events.
We noticed that there were some inconsistencies in event rewards. Some Dangerous Events were giving too much, and some Forbidden Events were giving too little. We tried to even it out a bit by changing the resource numbers for the outliers in each group.
⚡ Buffed the Parts recipe in the Rainpunk Foundry and added an additional worker slot to the building. The recipe now requires fewer resources and takes less time to craft.
⚡ Rebalanced a few Forest Mysteries.
Eclipse and Nauseous Spores - changed how the Stagnant debuff works for these Forest Mysteries. It no longer increases villager break time, it now shortens the time between breaks by 33%.
Unyielding Corruption - it now triggers after reaching Hostility 3 instead of 4.
Rotten Rain - increased the time between Blood Flower spawns from 70 seconds to 90 seconds. Increased the Hostility requirement from 3 to 4.
Devastating Storms - increased the Hostility requirement of this effect. It now triggers at Hostility level 6 instead of 5.
⚡ Slightly tweaked the distribution of nodes in the Marshlands. Egg nodes should appear a little less often now.
⚡ Removed all perks with negative side effects from Treasure Stag loot tables and added some new, purely beneficial perks in their place.
UX/UI improvements
⚡ When hovering over specialization icons, the tooltip will now display the effect name ("Proficiency" and "Comfortable") next to the specialization name.
⚡ Added 48 new custom-made icons to the game.
Sealed Forest biome effects
Beacon Tower abilities
Species’ housing upgrades
Some Order objectives
Some rewards in the Smoldering City upgrade tree
Prestige modifiers
The Settler’s Luck difficulty effect
⚡ Changed the wording in the Rebellious Spirit Cornerstones. It now correctly states that the Impatience penalty is applied when a villager dies or leaves.
⚡ Changed the wording in all Deed and World Event goals that require players to win in a certain amount of time. All descriptions should now read "before year X ends" instead of "before year X".
⚡ Added visible planting and harvesting times to recipes in farm panels.
⚡ Added a building counter to the building cards in the construction menu.
Added several new loading tips that explain various aspects of the game.
Changed the “Effects and Upgrades” header in building UI panels to “Effects and Perks”.
Added tooltips to UI tabs in building panels to help players navigate.
Improved some text in several places in the UI where keybinds or controls are mentioned to make input hints a bit clearer.
Bug fixes
⚡ Fixed a bug where the negative effect from the Altar of Decay Glade Event would not disappear after the event ended.
⚡ Fixed a bug where the Golden Leaf Plant was not available after being unlocked through Deeds.
⚡ Fixed a bug where finishing the Infected Drainage Mole glade event without any active Blightrot Cysts would not remove the Cyst generating effect.
⚡ Fixed a bug where the "Tracked Goods" category was misaligned on the top HUD.
⚡ Fixed a bug where worker slots in the Mine were misplaced and out of bounds.
⚡ Fixed an offset slider in the internal storage UI.
⚡ Fixed an issue with incorrect rewards in the Untamed Wilds world map modifier.
⚡ The missing Trader Arrival statistic has been added to the stats section of the Game History tab in the Smoldering City.
⚡ Fixed a bug where the game would remember the consumption control settings and apply them when replaying a tutorial mission.
⚡ Fixed a bug where the list of tracked orders would cut into the "Read More" section of the HUD.
⚡ Fixed several typos and inconsistencies in the French version of the game (Seal Contracts, Export Specialization perk, dialogue).
⚡ Fixed several typos and inconsistencies in the German version of the game (Farluf, Survivor Bonding perk, Wildfire Essence, tutorial text, Pie).
⚡ Fixed several typos and inconsistencies in the Japanese version of the game (Earthquake effect, Noxious Machinery effects).
⚡ Fixed several inconsistencies in the Thai version of the game (a few descriptions, effects).
⚡ Fixed a lot of typos and inconsistencies in the Simplified Chinese version of the game, and improved the overall quality of the translation (biomes, tooltips, dialogue, buildings, upgrades, deeds, perks, events, general UI, encyclopedia, update news).
⚡ Fixed an issue where some accented letters in Italian were displayed incorrectly in the in-game encyclopedia.
Fixed an issue where the Rain Engine tooltip was incorrectly offset in building panels.
Fixed an issue where Aunt Lori’s “Queen’s Hand” title was incorrectly scaled in some languages.
Fixed an issue where the Smoldering City tooltip had the wrong label.
Other
⚡ Aunt Lori will no longer be giving early gameplay tips and basic lore information to veteran players. This was done to avoid odd situations where players who have already reached Prestige 20 are given very basic advice and lore that they already know or have deduced from playing the game.
⚡ Tweaked the phrasing in some dialog options and openings to make Aunt Lori sound a little more serious. Also added some new opening lines.
The current game version is 0.63.1.
Check out some of the best community city designs, artwork, and memes from recent days. Click to unfold: [expand="more" type="show"]
We’ll present the outline of two new tutorial missions coming in tomorrow’s update and talk about all the balance changes and UX improvements (building counters, anyone?).
As always, we’ll upload the recording to our Livestream Archive playlist on YouTube, so that you don’t miss out on anything new.
Lastly, we want to remind you that once the Update goes live, your ongoing settlement will have to be closed. You can find more details below.
May the storm be gentle on you, Eremite Games
How to prepare
We release new content Updates every two weeks on Thursdays around 1 pm – 3 pm UTC. As we make multiple changes to the game’s systems, balance, and content, the game needs to force-finish any settlements that are in progress when you download the update. This aims to prevent various game-breaking bugs that could occur otherwise.
IMPORTANT: If you have a settlement in progress, it will have to be force-finished when you download the Update. You will be reimbursed with Citadel Resources but you will have to start a new settlement. Your meta progress (that is: Experience, Level, completed Deeds, unlocked Upgrades, Citadel Resources, etc.) will remain intact.
In the main menu, under the “Play” button, there’s a countdown to upcoming Updates. Please finish your current settlement before the update day if you don’t want it to be completed automatically.
We released a small hotfix to address the issues that occurred after the last update. We're super grateful for your reports and feedback!
Changelog:
Fixed a bug where some players could not embark due to a missing world event requirement.
Fixed a bug where too many crops of one type would be sown when two farm recipes were enabled at the same time.
Fixed a bug where some world event effects would be applied multiple times to a save file and would not disappear after a cycle reset.
Fixed an incorrect meta-reward name for the first upgrade in the Obsidian Archive row in Smoldering City.
Fixed a problem with some Rainpunk- and Blightrot-specific Forest Mysteries appearing for players without those mechanics unlocked.
Fixed a bug with the "harder orders" modifier not being applied correctly in Prestige 1 difficulty games.
Fixed a number of typos and inconsistencies in conversations with Aunt Lori in the Thai version of the game.
Fixed a problem where the Fox House was available as a wildcard before the Foxes were unlocked.
Fixed a bug where some building UI panels were too small for the number of worker slots they had.
Fixed a problem where fertile soil was spawning under trees in the tutorial.
Fixed some visible
Guidance and Lore Update - Part 2 available!
Greetings, Viceroys!
With this update, we're diving into the world of home décor! Complete Deeds and progress your Viceroy career to unlock new collectible items that will cozy up your home.
What's new:
Collectible decorations
8 new Deeds (Seals)
New conversation topics
Idle farmers indicator
And more!
You can check the full list of changes and our design notes below.
DEVELOPER NOTES
As you might have guessed from the name of this article, today's update is the second part of the Guidance and Lore system. It brings new conversation topics with Aunt Lori, a bit more structure to the early game, and most importantly - collectible decorations for your home in the Smoldering City. So without further ado, let's dive right into the details.
First, the new collectibles. In the past, we've talked about how we wanted to add some new cosmetic rewards to the game, especially for higher-tier deeds. Up until now, many of them have only rewarded players with experience points - and while that can be a meaningful reward at lower levels, deeds like Prestigious Expedition 20 are completed by players who have long since reached max level.
With Guidance and Lore Part 2, we hope to change that by introducing a new type of decoration - collectibles that will be displayed in your home in the Smoldering City. These are purely cosmetic and are awarded for completing certain deeds. You can also get little snippets of lore by hovering over the reward icon in the deed panel. There are currently 27 items available, with more to come in the future.
We also introduce several new conversations with Aunt Lori. The most notable of these are unique interactions with her after the first few settlements and after successfully reforging each of the four initial Seals (Bronze, Lead, Silver, and Gold). The goal here was to provide some structure and to guide new players through the early game by giving them clear goals to strive for (as well as a sense of closure after completing the Gold Seal). In the future, we will add a similar interaction with Aunt Lori for the last 4 Seals.
There are also several new, more general topics of conversation when interacting with Aunt Lori. She can now tell the player a few new stories (such as about the Fishmen or the Foxes) and give more advice based on the player's actions in previous games. There is also a new dialogue option in the "There's something I don't understand..." branch that is meant to explain how the Blightrot mechanic works.
As with every update, this one brings a few community-inspired UX improvements, balance changes, and bug fixes. Most notably, we've added two new settings to the Options menu - "Idle Farmer Indicator" and "Species Panel Open by Default". We also changed the human farming specialization icon and improved the wording of several in-game descriptions. In terms of balance, we changed the penalty in the Master Blueprint Cornerstone (to count resource charges instead of nodes), changed the objective of the Obsidian Loremaster world event (to require Forbidden Events, not just Forbidden Glades), and added an option to control season length in Training Expeditions.
Finally, let's talk a little bit about the near future. As you may have noticed, this update mostly focuses on fleshing out the game structure and making it easier for new players to get started. That's because we're slowly approaching the 1.0 release of Against the Storm, and we want the game to be as polished and accessible as possible. At the same time, we’re avoiding any major core gameplay changes before it comes out of Early Access.
Some studios out there take a longer break from updating their game right before the 1.0 release, just to come out of Early Access with a bang in the form of a huge, fancy new feature. However, our development philosophy has always been very different. We believe that our strength lies in extremely frequent and highly iterative updates rather than large but rare content drops. For this reason, we will still continue the bi-weekly update schedule as normal.
And while this may be sad reading for some of you, fear not - there will still be a yet unannounced surprise feature coming with 1.0. It just won't be as groundbreaking as fishing or a new species.
As always, we're grateful for all your support and feedback. If you’d like to share your ideas for upcoming updates, here are some useful links:
P.S. One of the best things you can do to help indie games is to leave a Steam review. If you’ve had a chance to play Against the Storm, we’d love to hear any feedback, positive or negative. Thanks!
CHANGELOG
Number of changes: 62 Inspired by community: 87%
Changes marked with ⚡ were inspired by the community.
New content and features
⚡ Added earnable decorations to the player’s home.
Home decorations are special collectible items. They are automatically added to the player’s home in the Citadel.
Collectibles can be acquired by finishing certain deeds in the Citadel (the exact list of changes in Deed rewards can be seen in the “balance” section of this changelog).
There are 27 collectibles in total.
Each collectible has a small snippet of lore when hovering over its icon in the Deed panel.
⚡ Added 8 new Deeds.
The Bronze Seal - Reforge the Bronze Seal.
The Lead Seal - Reforge the Lead Seal.
The Silver Seal - Reforge the Silver Seal.
The Gold Seal - Reforge the Gold Seal.
The Platinum Seal - Reforge the Platinum Seal.
The Cobalt Seal - Reforge the Cobalt Seal.
The Titanium Seal - Reforge the Titanium Seal.
The Adamantine Seal - Reforge the Adamantine Seal.
The rewards for completing the new Deeds are all new home decoration items. Every reforged Seal will grant you one piece of the Viceroy’s uniform to be displayed in your home in the Citadel.
To complete the new Seal Deeds, you don't need to play all of them from the beginning. If you win a game near your most recent Seal, all the lower tier ones will count as well.
Added new conversation topics with Aunt Lori.
The main focus of the new topics is to add structure to the first half of the game and to give players a clearer sense of direction.
Aunt Lori will now offer unique conversations after reforging each of the first 4 Seals (Bronze, Lead, Silver, and Gold). She also has some unique dialog after the first games after the tutorial.
There are also numerous new stories she can tell, a new tip based on the player’s actions in previous games, and one new topic explaining the Blightrot mechanic (after selecting the “There’s something I don't understand…” option).
Balance
⚡ Changed how the penalty of the Master Blueprint Cornerstone works. Instead of requiring players to remove/deplete nodes, it now counts collected resource charges.
⚡ Changed the objective of the Obsidian Loremaster World Event. Instead of discovering 2 Forbidden Glades, it now requires completing 2 Forbidden Events.
⚡ Added the option to control season length in Training Expeditions.
Reshuffled a lot of rewards given for Deed completion.
First Steps - removed the experience reward, added the Standard Uniform home decoration.
The Scarlet Orchard - removed the Thorny Reed settlement decoration, added the Rosevine home decoration.
The Marshlands - removed the experience reward, added the Marshglow Fungite home decoration.
Coral Forest - removed the experience reward, added the Reefbloom home decoration.
Royal Outpost - removed the experience reward, added the Landscape Painting home decoration.
Against All Odds - removed the Dullahan trader unlock, added the Pipe Cross settlement decoration.
Crimson Soil - removed the Reeds embarkation bonus, added the Thorny Reed settlement decoration.
Sparkdew Crystals - removed the Pipe Cross settlement decoration, added the Sparkdew Crystal home decoration.
Fishmen Ritual Site - removed the experience reward, added the Fishman Skull home decoration.
Prosperity 5 - removed the experience reward, added the Plate of Food home decoration.
Dice with Death 4 - removed the experience reward, added the Dullahan trader unlock.
Thorough Exploration - removed the Golden Leaf Plant settlement decoration, added the Reeds embarkation bonus.
Discovery 6 - removed the experience reward, added the Mole Trophy home decoration.
Rushed Delivery 6 - removed the experience reward, added the Sparkcaster home decoration.
Export Expert 6 - removed the experience reward, added the Trade Contract home decoration.
Stalking Shadows - removed the experience reward, added the Storm Orb home decoration.
Unnecessary Burden - removed the experience reward, added the Ibex Rug home decoration.
Master Archaeologist - removed the experience reward, added the Inscribed Slab home decoration.
Prestigious Expedition 2 - removed the experience reward, added the Pipe Elbow settlement decoration.
Prestigious Expedition 5 - removed the Moss Broccoli Seedlings perk unlock, added the Ancient Artifact home decoration.
Prestigious Expedition 8 - removed the experience reward, added the Golden Leaf Plant settlement decoration.
Prestigious Expedition 10 - removed the No Quality Control perk unlock, added experience points.
Prestigious Expedition 14 - removed the experience reward, added the No Quality Control perk unlock.
Prestigious Expedition 17 - removed the experience reward, added the Painting of the Ancient Hearth home decoration.
Prestigious Expedition 20 - removed the experience reward, added the Duelling Umbrella home decoration.
Removed two Cornerstones from Deed rewards: Moss Broccoli Seeds and Steel Mattocks. Both are now available from level 1, without the need to complete any Deeds.
UX/UI improvements
⚡ Added an “idle farmers indicator” setting to the options menu. Checking it will cause the game to notify the player if farmers are idle on a farm.
⚡ The species panels on the left side of the HUD will now remember their state when the game loads. This means that if you leave them expanded and quit the game, they will still be expanded after loading.
We also added a “species panel open by default” setting to the options menu. Checking it will cause the species panels to always be expanded when starting a new settlement.
⚡ Changed the icon of the human farming specialization to avoid confusion with the forest specialization of foxes.
⚡ Improved the wording in the first dialog of the Seal Keeper. It should now clearly state that the player needs 4 different items instead of all Guardian Parts.
⚡ Changed the names of Copper and Coal deposits to “veins”, to make it clearer that they are different from normal resource nodes (and that perks affecting resource deposits/nodes don’t work on them).
Based on this, we updated all tooltips and descriptions tied to mine upgrades.
⚡ Added a footer to resources in the warehouse panel. It now explains that LMB will track a resource and RMB will open a tooltip where the lower limit can be set.
⚡ Improved the wording in the description of the Travel Rations perk, to avoid confusion in regards to its effect.
Bug fixes
⚡ Fixed a bug with the Prestige 11 Blight modifier being incorrectly applied to Prestige 10 games.
⚡ Fixed an issue with some parts of the forest being incorrectly generated in the Scarlet Orchard, leaving small empty spaces between glades.
⚡ Fixed a bug that caused the Ominous Presence modifier to be spawned near the Flooded Mines modifier.
⚡ Fixed an issue with coal veins spawning under trees in some glades in the Coral Forest.
⚡ Fixed a typo in the German description of the Fishmen Lighthouse glade event description.
⚡ Fixed a typo in the Russian description of the Rainpunk Drill effect.
⚡ Fixed a typo in the Simplified Chinese translation of the Home button in the Citadel.
⚡ Fixed a few typos in the Polish version of some dialogs with Aunt Lori.
⚡ Fixed some typos in some generated settlement names.
The current game version is 0.62.1.
COMMUNITY CORNER
Recently, we released the Official Against the Storm Steam Deck controller layout. It was inspired by a tremendous community layout made by Extant. Thank you for putting the time into creating and testing the layout!
We invite you all to share your suggestions for additional Official Layout improvements in this thread.
Now, check out some of the best community city designs, artwork, and memes from recent days. Click to unfold:
[expand="more" type="show"]
Recreation of the Bakery building in modded Minecraft by Mapet (Source: Reddit)
The main gist of the update are the collectible decorations that will cozy up your Home once you complete certain Deeds and progress your Viceroy career path. The update also introduces new dialogue options with Aunt Lori, new Deeds, and more.
If you can’t join our livestream, make sure to check our YouTube channel later, where we keep the full Livestream Archive playlist.
If this is your first Against the Storm update, make sure to finish your ongoing settlement. Otherwise, it will be closed when the update goes live tomorrow. You can learn more below.
May the storm be gentle on you, Eremite Games
How to prepare
We release new content Updates every two weeks on Thursdays around 1 pm – 3 pm UTC. As we make multiple changes to the game’s systems, balance, and content, the game needs to force-finish any settlements that are in progress when you download the update. This aims to prevent various game-breaking bugs that could occur otherwise.
IMPORTANT: If you have a settlement in progress, it will have to be force-finished when you download the Update. You will be reimbursed with Citadel Resources but you will have to start a new settlement. Your meta progress (that is: Experience, Level, completed Deeds, unlocked Upgrades, Citadel Resources, etc.) will remain intact.
In the main menu, under the “Play” button, there’s a countdown to upcoming Updates. Please finish your current settlement before the update day if you don’t want it to be completed automatically.
A new hotfix is ready to be downloaded. We tackled the issues you've reported since yesterday's Guidance and Lore Update. Thank you for your feedback and swift reports!
Changelog:
Fixed an issue with haulers and hauling carts not unloading buildings with less than 5 goods stored in them.
Fixed a bug that caused Aunt Lori's dialogue to reset after clicking on her hand.
Fixed an issue with some resources being duplicated in the grid view in the warehouse panel.
Fixed a bug with completed tracked deeds staying on top of the deed list when sorting by "tracked".
Fixed a typo in the Polish decision tooltip of the Brass Order Engineers world event.
Fixed an issue with the resource tooltip being too small when right-clicking on some goods in the warehouse panel.
Fixed an issue with the construction animation resetting incorrectly when moving an unfinished building
Fixed an incorrect tooltip header when hovering over the inactive icon above a deactivated building.
Fixed a bug with the buildings being incorrectly placed in debug mode on the Experimental Branch.
Have a great time with the new Update and awesome weekend. Cheers!
I can't think of anything more pleasant than basking in front of the fireplace and reading the hot-off-the-press issue of the Smoldering City Journal.
Here are the keys to your new home. Take your raincoat off, put on those comfy slippers, and enjoy your reading.
What’s new:
Aunt Lori - interactable character
Tutorialized narrative
Building deactivation
Grid and list view in Warehouse
Enough of me talking, it seems you have a visitor to take care of!
DEVELOPER NOTES
In today’s update, we bring you the first part of the new Guidance and Lore system - a feature meant to breathe a bit more life into the Citadel and give new players a sense of direction (while also providing lore and some practical advice). Additionally, we introduce a few minor UI and balance changes, as well as a whole host of bug fixes.
Let’s first start with a somewhat lengthy preamble. We’re slowly but surely nearing the 1.0 release of Against the Storm. From a development standpoint, this means one thing - focusing on the last few items on the roadmap, like the aforementioned Guidance and Lore system, tutorial improvements, Steam Deck Verified status, and general polish/balance. That’s why this and the next few updates won’t be introducing any core gameplay shakeups and will be more about delivering on the promises we made during Early Access.
This doesn’t mean we will stop introducing community-inspired improvements or that we’ll slow down our update schedule. We just wanted to let you know what the team is currently working on and what to expect in the near future. We will share the exact date of the 1.0 release with you soon-ish™.
But enough of that. Let’s now go over the main feature of this update - Guidance and Lore. This system, in a way, is part of the extended tutorial of the game. It’s mostly aimed at new players, but it’s not trying to hold their hands and force them to do anything. It’s more of an additional support mechanic that helps to understand the game and add context.
Instead of hiding it behind the in-game encyclopedia or showing annoying popups, we decided to go with a more immersive approach. From now on, after finishing a very early Deed (First Steps), you will get access to your own home in the Smoldering City. There, you will meet Aunt Lori - an interactable NPC who serves as a mentor and guide.
To talk to Aunt Lori, you need to visit the Smoldering City and either select the new building directly or click on the “Home” button in the Citadel UI. This will take you to a new screen with the interior of your house and Aunt Lori in it.
When talking to Aunt Lori, you can ask her questions regarding certain game mechanics, get a few bits of lore from time to time, and ask her for advice. Some conversation topics are always available, while others will only appear if certain conditions are met (like specific gameplay tips based on your previous runs).
Interactions with this system are never forced. You won’t get a dialogue box in the middle of a game or while browsing the upgrade tree. We designed this feature so that it’s useful and fun for players who enjoy a bit of lore and need some advice, while not forcing it on players who just want to focus on the mechanical aspects of the game.
As this is the first iteration of Guidance and Lore, there aren’t that many subjects you can pick when talking to Aunt Lori. But we will expand upon this system in the next few updates - by adding collectibles to the Viceroy’s Quarters (your home), increasing the number of conversation topics and tips, and introducing dialogue branches meant to guide new players through the game’s content. As with every new addition to the game, we will closely monitor your feedback on it and adjust if necessary.
Before we move on to the detailed changelog, let’s just quickly go over the most important UI changes coming with this update. We added a grid/list toggle to the warehouse panel, we improved hauler AI to prioritize fuller internal storages, we added the option to freely move all unconstructed buildings, and we introduced a new “activate/deactivate” button for all production buildings and construction sites. We also fixed a lot of bugs, as well as tweaked the balance of some production buildings and Forest Mysteries.
Thank you for providing us with feedback and suggestions for the new update. If you’d like to share your ideas for upcoming updates, here are some useful links:
P.S. One of the best things you can do to help indie games is to leave a Steam review. If you’ve had a chance to play Against the Storm, we’d love to hear any feedback, positive or negative. Thanks!
CHANGELOG
Number of changes: 42 Inspired by community: 95%
Changes marked with ⚡ were inspired by the community.
New content and features
⚡ Added the Guidance and Lore system in the form of a new interactable NPC in the Citadel - Aunt Lori.
The Guidance and Lore system is mainly aimed at new players, but it should also introduce some interesting lore and tips for veterans.
The current version of this system is just the first iteration, so the number of dialogue options and conversation topics is not final. We will introduce new options and topics in the coming weeks.
The core of the Guidance and Lore system is the player’s home in the Smoldering City and Aunt Lori - an interactable mentor NPC.
To unlock the Viceroy’s Quarters and Aunt Lori, you have to complete the First Steps Deed (finish a game after the tutorial).
After it’s unlocked, the Viceroy’s Quarters appear in the Smoldering City, where they can be entered either by clicking on the building or a button in the Citadel UI.
The interactable NPC, Aunt Lori, is always present in the player’s home. The game never forces the player to interact with her, though. All conversations are completely optional and never occur outside of the player’s home.
Conversations are mostly focused on lore, tutorialization, and contextual tips.
Some dialogue options are always there (like questions about specific game mechanics), and others appear based on player actions (like a tip about Blightrot if the player was struggling with it in a previous game).
In the next update, we will introduce dialogue options meant to direct the player towards their next objective, as well as collectibles in the Viceroy’s Quarters (as rewards for Deeds). There will also be some new Deeds overall.
Added a new Deed - First Steps. It can be completed by finishing the first game after the tutorial (existing players will have to just play one run to unlock it, no matter their progress).
The reward for that Deed is the Viceroy’s Quarters - your very own home in the Smoldering City.
Balance
⚡ Adjusted the AI of haulers and hauling carts. They will now prioritize fuller internal storages over emptier ones (although distance is still a significant factor).
⚡ Reshuffled a few recipes in buildings to avoid too similar configurations.
Smelter - removed Pipes (★★), added Training Gear (★★).
Smithy - removed Training Gear (★★), added Pipes (★★).
The changes to the Smelter also apply to the Flawless Smelter.
⚡ Removed the Shifting Paths Forest Mystery.
⚡ Rebalanced the Unnatural Erosion Forest Mystery. It now activates at Hostility 4 and spawns in a more balanced configuration (with a higher chance of spawning alongside stronger positive Forest Mysteries and weaker negative ones).
⚡ Added Porridge to Training Expeditions (as a selectable starting good).
⚡ Added Porridge to trade routes. Towns established in the Coral Forest and the Cursed Royal Woodlands will now sometimes request it.
Towns built in the Royal Woodlands will now sometimes request Leather in trading routes.
Renamed the old First Steps Deed to Third Time’s a Charm.
UX/UI improvements
⚡ All unconstructed buildings can now be moved for free.
Beware that moving a construction site will reset building progress and return the used resources to the Main Storage.
⚡ Added a grid/list toggle to the warehouse panel.
To track or set a lower limit for a resource in the grid view, click it and use the small interactable tooltip.
The list view works the same way as before.
⚡ Added an option to deactivate construction sites and production buildings. Deactivated buildings are ignored by haulers and builders, and all workers are unassigned immediately.
The “deactivate” button can be found in the building panel after selecting a given building.
There is also a keybind for deactivating/activating a building ( . by default).
⚡ Added an alert when a resource node is removed by a Seal Plague or Forest Mystery.
⚡ Changed how completed Deeds are highlighted to make it clearer that a reward can be collected.
⚡ Changed the wording in the description of the Vitality effect (Tea Doctor). It now correctly states that the bonus is triggered for every fulfilled complex food need, not for every complex food item consumed.
⚡ Changed the wording in some World Event decision tooltips to avoid the word “pay” for embarkation goods (it only occurs in relation to Citadel Resources).
⚡ Improved the wording of some World Event decisions to make it clear that resources and villagers are taken away for only the current cycle.
⚡ Changed the table header for the lower limit to “minimum” in the warehouse panel.
⚡ Changed the name of villager rewards given for completing orders to “villagers” instead of “newcomers”.
⚡ Long town names without spaces are now automatically broken into two lines in the calendar at the bottom of the World Map HUD.
Some towns made before this update might have incorrectly formatted names due to this change. New towns, however, will be displayed correctly.
Bug fixes
⚡ Fixed a bug with Hauling Carts not disappearing when destroying a Small Storage.
⚡ Fixed a bug with workers being assigned to slots occupied by automatons when using the Shift key.
⚡ Fixed a bug with haulers not taking goods from production buildings in which workers are already unloading resources.
⚡ Fixed a bug with incorrect settlement names being displayed on the World Map HUD.
⚡ Fixed an issue with the Market Shift Plan Cornerstone appearing for players who already had almost all trade offers unlocked.
⚡ Fixed a bug with the Trading Post showing an incorrect message when selecting it at the exact moment a trader leaves the settlement.
⚡ Fixed a bug with the Vanishing Water Forest Mystery not showing progress correctly in its tooltip.
⚡ Fixed a bug with Deeds still being tracked in the Deed panel, even after their completion.
⚡ Fixed a bug with the mine showing an incorrect alert when it’s idle because of a player-selected setting.
⚡ Fixed an issue with the camera position not being saved between sessions.
⚡ Fixed a few minor issues with the Ancient Hearth’s mesh and textures (intersecting geometry, invisible vegetation).
⚡ Fixed an issue with dust particles still being animated when building construction is stopped.
⚡ Fixed some inconsistencies with the translation of “Drizzle” in the Russian version of the game.
⚡ Fixed a typo in the Czech description of the Additional Cornerstone Choice unlock in the Smoldering City.
⚡ Fixed a typo in the Traditional Chinese description of the Queen’s Gift Cornerstone.
Other
⚡ Improved save stability on certain hardware configurations.
The current game version is 0.61.1.
COMMUNITY CORNER
Check out some of the best community city designs, artwork, and memes from recent days. Click to unfold: [expand="more" type="show"] A couple of today’s screenshots were inspired by the settlement design by Conker: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3005500998 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3005500998
Fox Villager by 鳥（Tori）(Source: 
Stamping Mill: Modded Minecraft Edition by u/gap3t (Source: 
